inVASION: Banes of Existence
by THE Xenomorph
Summary: Let the inVASION commence. Rated for language, thematic material and content. Character Death Warnings are now in effect. Review as you like, but no flaming.
1. Preparing

**AN: This will be a slow moving story as I've got several others I'm running concurrently, but if I don't get it out now I never will. Be warned many will die. Many will face things worse than death. Many of you will likely end up hating me for what is to come. I give you ...**

**inVASION: Bane of Existence**

**By THE Xenomorph (aka Xenomorph666)**

**Disclaimer: I own only Perfection and Wraith.**

**DigitalMan and K2** **are © My close friend.**

**Everything else is copyrighted to their correct owner.**

**Universe: Spliced-Verse (Misfit-Verse, Evil Dead, The Mask, TMNT, Captain Planet, Beast Wars, Jurassic** **Park)**

_**Preparing**_

"I don't get it..." Lina said as she helped Lifeline patch up Stanley's fourth massive cut that week. It had only been a few days since the Planeteers were evacuated from Hope Island and the teams were now on edge since the Scions had left and taken the babies of the teams with them, strangely Wraith assured everyone that the children of the world would be most secure and that they wouldn't even have to do anything. This was the current topic of discussion.

"They work in ways beyond us." Lifeline said as he finished patching the magical nuisance up. "There now please stay out of the minefields..."

"I can't help it..." Stanley smiled, "I want to play Minesweeper."

"Use a computer." Lina said dryly.

"No way, Arcade's been super-amping up every PC on the base, I don't wanna know what Minesweeper would do on those things." Stanley said with a look of fear. "Besides, my Mask powers keep me alive. For the most part."

"Yes, but you keep activating them at the last second." Lifeline said, "If you aren't careful you're going to end up dead trying to prove yourself a damn hero." Lifeline was obviously upset, but a look from Lina calmed him down. "You know we all care about you."

"I know and I love these powers, but they make all the real risky stuff... boring." Stanley said. "I can't die unless I'm not in mask form and Mask form kicks in to save my life."

"Just remember the Heartless don't kill you." Lina said.

"I know." Stanley sighed as he looked at his watch. "Two more hours then I get to go home for the weekend."

"And that's bad?" Lina asked.

"You still have family, even if it's only one person, who still care about you. Right now my mom's gone from ultra supporter to ultra outcry against mutant influence and my dad, well..." Stanley made it clear his father hadn't changed since the Joes' initial meeting with him. "The only reason I come back at all is because my dad uses me for press conferences and my mom's insisting you guys are a terrible influence. They even tried to get Nick Fury to transfer me to S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

"Wow..." Lina was astonished.

"On the plus side, I get to destroy press conferences, show off the Joes' influence and be a justifiable jerk to the media." Stanley warped to his Mask form. "OH YEAH I CAN FEEEEEL THE ANARCHY!" Then he morphed back.

"Stanley, go get ready." Lifeline smiled. "And tell Todd I need to see him for his check up later."

Stanley merely blew a raspberry as he left.

"Need me for anything else?" Lina asked.

"Could you find Bree for me?" Lifeline asked.

"I think she went to..." Lina stopped herself. "... use the restroom."

"It is addicting isn't it?" Lifeline smiled. "Soon we'll find a way to weaponize it." Both laughed at the joke as Bree walked in.

"Weaponize what?" She asked.

"Roadblock's addictive way of talking." Lina smiled.

"Didn't COBRA try that once?" Bree asked.

"No they tried to turn bad poetry into mind control. They ended up driving poets to suicide." Lifeline shook his head. "Honestly, after Serpentor they really went down hill."

"Really?" Lina asked.

"Oh yeah." Lifeline said. "That was perhaps their best plan, and everything after that was Saturday morning cartoon plots."

Silence filled the room as the three looked around expecting to see Perfection or another of the interLOAFERs pop in with a joke. As it was the silence merely reminded them of the threat on the horizon and it brought a tear to Lina's eyes instantly.

"What's wrong honey?" Bree asked as she hugged the young girl close to comfort her.

"Every time I think about what's happening I think about what happened to Gecko and it scares me because he got really lucky." Lina sniffled. "We might not get even a little lucky if it happens to us."

"It won't. We're fighting to protect our world, our friends and our loved ones and remember what the Scions said; that reason gives us a powerful force of light on our side." Bree reminded the young girl.

"But what if..." Lina was obviously afraid, but a friendly voice, Sora's voice interrupted her.

"No buts." Sora said as he and Riku walked in.

"What?" Lina asked.

"No buts." Sora said again. "Doubt yourself and the heartless will pounce on you faster than a blink. Believe in yourself and your friends, believe in the right of your fight and you wield a power greater than a keyblade. You wield hope and that's a light that can never be extinguished."

"He's right..." Riku said, "It's like a toxin to them, they can't stand it and the nobodies can't either. Just remember to hope."

Lina gave a small smile and a nod.

"Thanks Sora." Bree smiled. "Now how can we help?"

"Actually..." Cloud walked in with a crate followed by another Cloud.

"...It's how we can help you." This Cloud was the one that had visited nearly a year ago.

"Two Clouds?" Lina shook her head. "I've been around Stanley too much."

"Actually, I'm from Hollow Bastion, a world that shares the same universe with Sora's world." The first Cloud who Lina now recognized from the first Kingdom Hearts game, said.

"I'm from my universe, my own world. I was here when Perfection's plans for World Karaoke fell through." Cloud number two said. "I'm just dropping these off to help, I can't stay."

"What's in there?" Lifeline asked.

"Materia." Both the Cloud's said.

"Oh..." Lifeline said in awe.

"It's magic." Bree said. "But wouldn't our world's magic users be enough and wouldn't those not work here?"

"I think..." Cloud two tossed a strange white materia to Bree. "You'll find our world wants to help."

"Is this holy?" Bree asked.

"Yes, and Aerith herself told me to give to only one person." Cloud two said.

"Who?" Lina asked as both the Clouds stared directly at her.

The second Cloud then took the holy materia from Bree and knelled down to be eye level with Lina as he put the glowing substance in her hand. "You'll know when to use it."

"O-okay..." Lina flushed with fear, shock and astonishment and had to quickly sit down.

"Keep it safe." Cloud One said. "It is vital to fighting the heartless."

"Well gee thanks for putting so little pressure on the girl." Bree snapped.

"She can handl..." Cloud One was cut off by a death glare from the angry nurse. "Would you happen to know where Pyro is?"

"NO." Lifeline said as he realized which magic the pyromaniac would likely end up with. "Give it to Hawk."

"Hawk told us to instruct him on it's use." Cloud Two said. "Besides most people here will have little in the ability to actually use the materia for a while. They have to grow stronger as you do."

"Make sure Althea's around." Lifeline groaned.

"We have our own materia ready for his antics." Cloud One said. "Mute is a powerful weapon to keep the insane from hurting themselves."

"So is not giving the pyromaniac a magical lighter." Lance said as he pushed past the Clouds. "I'm out of pills and he won't leave me alone."

"One minute." Lifeline said with a sigh. "He should be with Psyche-Out."

"Oh good, we can give him the Confuse materia." Cloud two said.

"Do I get anything?" Lance asked and then to the space to his left he added. "No I will not ask them for your stupid 'throw' materia!"

"Sorry Lance." Cloud two said. "But materia doesn't respond to you. Likely because of the experiments..."

"One more thing to blame on you." Lance said to the air over his shoulder. "And stop doing the hula!" Lance sighed as Lifeline handed him a series of pills and a cup of water.

"Right..." The Clouds said in unison only to have the Hollow Bastion Cloud simply leave while dragging the materia case with him. The other Cloud simply shrugged in defeat and followed.

"So what now?" Lance asked as he eyed Lina carefully. She was obviously shaken by simply holding the powerful materia in her hand. That's when the base alarms went off and the Misfits ran to started up the Mass Device.

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When the Misfits arrived at their destination they were surprised to see Cyclops, Wolverine, Ice-Man and Nightcrawler were also arriving via the Mass Device's piggy back capabilities that had been added. However, that only held their attention for moment as the destruction that lay before them was immense. What was once a downtown metropolis was now torn asunder with buildings collapsing inside themselves.

"Sentinels?" Cyclops looked around.

"Knuckles?" Avalanche pointed to the red echidna that had come to help along with Sonic.

The groups rushed to the barely conscious echidna and were utterly horrified to see his left arm was missing, having been literally torn out from his shoulder. The greatest shock though came from the body of one Rouge the Bat.

"It..." Knuckles coughed. "It just cut her throat out..." Knuckles stared at the bat's body.

"Don't worry Mr. Knuckles." Dragonfly said as she began to staunch his large wound and many cuts. "We'll get out of here." Then she grabbed hold of the echidna and used the Mass Device to return to the Pit.

"What the hell did this?" Wavedancer asked in shock. "And where's the fox and pink hedgehog?"

As if to answer her first question a golden form came crashing through the remainder of one building and barely glided to a stop. Sonic was using his actual collection of Chaos Emerald and was in his super form.

"Get out of here, he's to strong!" Super Sonic said right as a shining metallic streak smashed him into the ground, then turned to face the teens.

"Metal Sonic..." Shadow came limping from behind a piece of rubble. He was holding a series of heavy cuts and scrapes. "Somehow he got an upgrade."

"_Indeed."_ It spoke. _ "I am now CyberSonic. The new Sonic. The true Sonic. Soon to be the ONLY Sonic."_

"Over my dead body!" Super Sonic released a wave of energy, throwing everyone back.

"This is a little insane..." Toad said as he stood back up.

"And not in the good way." Nightcrawler added.

"If I could get my energy back..." Shadow said as he collapsed to his feet. "I could..."

"You could get yourself killed." Wolverine snapped.

"He's right. Avalanche think you can keep us covered?" Wavedancer asked.

"For what little it'll do, yeah." Avalanche said as he watched the Golden hedgehog repeatedly slam against the metal one with no effect.

"Good." Wavedancer said, "Blob, take Shadow back to the pit to get some TLC, then come back with whoever you can."

"Got ya." Blob said as he picked up Shadow, who for once did not fight the retreat. Of course he was half conscious.

"So how do we handle this?" Cyclops asked.

"Run interference until Maximals are available." Wavedancer said. "He seems to be made of cybertronian tech."

"That could just mean Starscream and MAL upgraded him." Cyclops pointed out.

"At this point it doesn't matter, all we need to concentrate on doing is taking him down." Wavedancer said.

"I'm not arguing that, but if we don't know who upgraded him..." Cyclops was interrupted by several dark portals opening.

"_Take them as you wish Heartless, I've no problem with this battle."_ CyberSonic seemed to laugh as he batted Super Sonic away.

"That answer your question?" Wavedancer said as she used a fire hydrant to push several heartless away before the groups started to fight heavily with the pitch monsters.


	2. The Suffering of a Father

**inVASION: Heartless & Nobody – Bane of Existence**

**By THE Xenomorph (aka Xenomorph666)**

**Disclaimer: I own only Perfection and Wraith.**

**DigitalMan and K2** **are © My close friend.**

**Everything else is copyrighted to their correct owner.**

**Universe: Spliced-Verse (Misfit-Verse, Evil Dead, The Mask, TMNT, Captain Planet, Beast Wars, Jurassic** **Park)**

**The Suffering of a Father**

Magneto sat in his office in Genosha, watching the monitors as waves of mutants filed off their many boats and planes. He smiled with contentment as his plans seemed to come to fruition. He saw mutants of all various types. Much to his surprise, he found that some humans, probably relatives or friends of the mutants, were among the crowd, something the Master of Magnetism found himself viewing as a pleasant thing. He noted the few humans that had been accosted though, remained peaceful or at the very worst were defended by those with them. It was a good feeling that sprung up within him when he saw that. It was a small reassurance that maybe Charles was right. Maybe humans and mutants could live together.

Those thoughts were quickly squashed under foot as soon as they had bloomed. The monitor for the docks showed a young mutant girl screaming, a radio call from Sabertooth told him all he needed to know. The girl had been sexually assaulted by a human. A not-very-surprised Magneto stood and walked to his sphere and within moments was at the scene, ready to hand the judgment of death down. He ordered the accused man brought forward. Sabertooth of course, tossed the man to him.

"You are accused of sexual assault towards a mutant on the island of Genosha." Magneto's glare was filled with an obvious intent.

To his surprise, the man stood straight and spoke in a voice Magneto only barely recognized. "The dead have no wants of the flesh."

"So death comes to claim me?" Magneto sneered with contempt. "Show yourself Scion, or do your supposed boogeymen still threaten you?"

All at once, a dark cloud formed and coalesced into the form of the Scion of Death. Wraith was once again in the world, and his presence caused a great disturbance as the docks deteriorated to almost nothing within moments. A few people managed to make it off the docks before it collapsed.

"You dare kill my people." Magneto growled.

"I spare them from fates worse than myself." Wraith's voice echoed an ethereal haunt. "They are here, Magneto, and though you and your new people could fight them back, you in the end would only fuel their intent."

"And the mutants would be saved." Magneto responded with a smile, "Then why bother to tell me this?"

"I cannot tell you." The light from Wraith's eyes seemed to expand and envelope the mutant leader. "Long have you been overdue for this, long have you need to see true suffering."

"I have seen true suffering!" Magneto roared as the light enveloped him totally.

When the light faded, the magnetokinetic stood in blackness that soon became a barren wasteland. Then, it became populated with millions of people. Some Magneto even recognized, Hawk and Duke from the Joes were among them.

"Some souls you see here are meant to arrive, others can be saved by simply acts of mercy." Wraith nodded, but not to the Joes. The nod was to every other person that lay before them. "The heartless shall lose this battle, though there will be losses to many sides, these deaths come at the hands of another."

"There are no mutants." Magneto remarked.

"Why would there be?" Wraith's laugh warped and twisted to Magneto's own. "You would never send your people to death after all."

"I..." Magneto looked forward. "I never wanted this."

"True, but then again you were taught early lessons in hate..." Wraith passed his arm over the landscape and it shifted to a Nazi concentration camp where Magneto saw himself being dragged from his parents.

"I am no Scrooge. My past will not change me and neither shall my future!" Magneto growled in annoyance.

"Is that so?" Wraith turned to the Master of Magnetism. "You would condemn billions of lives simply because you refuse to recognize the need to change?" Wraith cackled with a twisted glee as he seemed to float off. "Perhaps a choice vision from another future?"

"What possible better future could there be?" Magneto shouted as he looked out once again at the people he now knew he would one day end.

Wraith produced a simple device in his invisible hands. The white-haired mutant looked at the small red binocular-like device...and wondered if the Scion of Death had gone truly insane. "The best glimpses of the future complements of Chaos and the View Master."

A disbelieving Magneto slowly took the child's toy that the ghost held aloft and put the visor to his eyes. The first slide was something that astonished him; Wanda with children. One was obviously fathered by the Scion of Chaos, but the other two he could not place. His shock grew though as behind them stood their current enemy, Release, though he looked more subdued and infinitely more experienced.

He clicked down the slide tab and another vision.

This scene was Gecko, Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, Shadowcat and several mutants Magneto recognized from these very docks. They all had the symbol of a sword on their uniforms with the letter "E" above it. Moreover Gecko himself carried a blade of magnificence and a stature held normally for a king. The greatest shock of this vision though was the humans that also came dressed in the same uniform. Their enemies seemed to be green aliens, all dropping various disguises.

The tab clicked again, but he did not push it.

This vision took the mutant leader's breath away. It was a simple elegant funeral and he recognized names on tombstones around the one currently being buried. The names though were not what took his breath away, it was the dates. The births and deaths were barely two decades apart.

The tab went down again.

This vision was also the graveyard, but a form stood at the freshly tended to grave. A large black bird rested on a grave near the form. A sense of dread crossed Magneto's soul as he saw the face was that of the supposed buried person. He could not conceive of death returning someone just buried, especially not in such a comic book fashion, and he drew in a sharp breath.

The tab depressed.

This vision was a thankful reprieve, but also all at once terrifying. A man Magneto had seen with the X-Men, one who only identified himself as "The Doctor", was traveling with Polaris and Iceman in his odd police box ship. The strangest part was that the Doctor was looking at Magneto and a speech bubble simply read "It's bigger on the inside."

The tab broke this time as it went down. Magneto knew this would be the last.

This image was perhaps the most confusing. It was simply three forms with a distance measurement from Earth. One Magneto knew to be Galactus, the planet-eating being the Fantastic Four had run off. The others he could not make sense of. One was an orange dot, the other a black sphere.

To his surprise the tab went down again, though this time the toy itself broke.

The image was horrifying. The orange dot was in fact a giant transforming robot that tore planets apart to literally devour them. Magneto felt fear creep into his soul.

It clicked again, rapidly animating the remaining vision of the orange monster devouring a planet.

Then it began to animate the black sphere gliding through space and stopping to open a large door in it's center, out of which a large "arm" extended to grasp a planet and drag it into it's own terrifying core. The doors then closed and the sphere moved on.

The toy exploded in Magneto's face.

"Evil is a powerful enemy." Wraith said. "Many can be lead down it from causes meant for good." The Scion's appearance was now that of the traditional Grim Reaper, the vague outline of a naked skull was even visible under his hood, and he continued. "It is still nothing to the dangerous nature of beings that simply hunger."

"What did they mean?" Magneto asked with a visible shudder.

"Which vision?" Wraith asked, his voice distant as he looked to the sky, almost as if he wasn't really with Magneto.

"Several of them, but the first and the last mostly concern me." Magneto explained, "He's our enemy, and yet there..."

"Release..." Wraith chuckled, "There are many versions of him, the one you saw bears the burden of a powerful curse from a being of pure wrath. Fear him still, for that one is even yet more powerful than this."

"And those... things?" Magneto gasped. "What are they?"

"Eaters of worlds." Wraith explained. "They have changed much of this world's fabric, though the Beast Planet was here before Unicron was dragged through. They are drawn to Earth for different reasons. One to feed, one to destroy the last of it's enemies..."

"Galactus?" Magneto hoped his deduction was right.

"He doesn't like competition." Wraith shrugged as he reverted to his normal form and the grey, abyssal world they were in faded to the docks, where humans and mutants were working to pull as many as they could from the water. "Get better wood Magneto, I'll not be so kind as this should there be a next time."

"Should?" Magneto cast a questioning glance.

The specter merely smiled as he faded from view, but left a few parting words. "Seek peace, Max Eisenhardt."

Magneto's eyes went wide at the utterance of his birth name, but the surprise quickly faded as he realized that death of all things would always know who he was. He slowly came to the dock and looked out among the people gathered there. He was shocked to still see the humans and mutants working together.

"Sabertooth." Magneto called, an odd distance in his voice.

A sudden explosion from the far side of the island caught both their attentions however.

"Get these people to safety!" Magneto rose high to see a swarms of writhing black creatures pouring forth from the abandoned buildings on the other side of the island. "Acolytes, to me!"

* * *

**AN:** Hooo boy I've been gone a long while. I've no excuse other than real life kicking me in the balls repeatedly. Gonna try to get back on my writing train, but I don't even know if anyone is watching anymore. If anyone is, please let me know. Also this will no longer be as long as I thought. It will go as far as I can, then I'm taking a break from this 'verse to show off the interLOAFERs in other worlds.


	3. He who bears the curse of wrath

**inVASION: Heartless & Nobody – Bane of Existence**

**By THE Xenomorph (aka Xenomorph666)**

**Disclaimer: I own only Perfection, Wraith and Release (in both identities).**

**DigitalMan and K2** **are © My close friend.**

**Everything else is copyrighted to their correct owner.**

**Universe: Spliced-Verse (Misfit-Verse, Evil Dead, The Mask, TMNT, Captain Planet, Beast Wars, Jurassic** **Park)**

_**He who bears the curse of wrath**_

Darkness enveloped the mind of Alan Quain, the man who bore the second name of "Release". Death pulled him one way and he felt the icy grip again. Then the second yank, the monster that had cursed him now pulled his soul to another reality where he would be made again in the most painful fashion it could fathom and from there live another lifetime and it would repeat until the eternal monster was bored.

"A sad state..." A voice spoke to him, his consciousness saw a green form about him, a tired looking face and a scythe. "When I am so busy I let plagues ruin the souls of good men." The scythe lanced out and broke his dark curse for a moment. "Now you idiot, I'll hold the beast at bay!"

His vision cleared as he passed through a barrier into a realm of forested happiness and singing birds. He coughed as he breathed in the pure air and stood on weak legs as a man walked forward to him, forming out of seemingly nothing. The man stopped with a smile that quickly turned to a serious look. "You're very hard to get ahold of."

"Ughh... lburg bif.." Alan vomited after that. His trench coat and blue shirt and jeans now covered in what he assumed was his last meal or it may have been his breakfast from the day he was cursed. He was ever able to determine that.

"Yeah I expect so." The odd man said as his solid green eyes softened and become more like swirling galaxies in two orbs in his head. "I need your help"

"Ugh..." Alan coughed. "What the hell just happened?"

"Oh, right. Wraith just freed you from the curse for a bit. We can't keep him off you forever, but for a little bit we can." The man smiled once again. "See we're a notch or two above it on the food chain."

"Nice..." Alan smiled his own mischievous smile. "So if you're so powerful, what the hell can I help you with?"

The man's smile faded. "I made a mistake, put my own emotions before my duties as a Scion and now a world I love dearly is facing a cosmic horror I am partly responsible for, and I can't even be there to fight for them."

"Responsible how?" Alan asked, his own suspicions obvious.

"I brought things to their world that through the balance of the universe into tatters and a friend whose mind broke brought in a force I cannot fight." The Scion said.

"Gonna need more." A solid look crossed his face.

"Another version of you seeking their Phoenix Force, or was. Now he's using the heartless and Nobodies to cause nothing but pain."

Alan's mind lanced out at the man, but struck a wall of pure pain as he tried to force the man into an impossible position. He cursed himself, the thing had an ally capable of taking on the beast that cursed him and he just tried to crush it. Strangely though the pain passed quickly.

"I don't blame you for hating me on that, or me asking for your help, but I'm still asking. Still begging." The Scion said.

A silence filled the area as the psion and Scion stood staring each other over. And an eternity of not knowing the answer began to chew at the Scion of Chaos' nerves.

"I'm gonna need some new clothes and shit first." Alan sighed as he wiped his forehead and shirt clean. The Scion merely smiled with a nod and produced an armoire and dressing room. "Ok, mildly impressive."

333333inter33333333LOAFERs333333inter33333333LOAFE Rs333333inter33333333LOAFERs

"He's gonna murder us!" Cyclops said as he barely dodged one of CyberSonic's massive energy waves.

"Yeah, I'm more worried about these guys..." Wavedancer said as she pulled out a blue rock. "Gonna have to thank those clouds for this..." She said as she focused her mind and intent into the powerful gem. Soon shards of ice flew from her to the heartless that ran scurrying forward. "NICE!"

"More over here!" Cyclops shouted as he blasted a group that tried to flank them. Wolverine tore through a small patch as IceMan tried to build an ice wall to protect them.

"That's not working Ice-cube!" Avalanche shouted as he used several blocks of earth to repeatedly smash the heartless wave.

"Where's Nightcrawler?" Wolverine shouted.

"Getting people to safety!" Cyclops shouted back as blue streak came slamming into the ground adjacent to him. "SONIC!" The yelp was mixed with surprise and fear.

"Not for long." CyberSonic roared as it came charging in. Cyclops only had enough time to blink, but nothing came during that time. Instead his eyes opened to a frozen in place CyberSonic and form floating just in front of him holding it back with seemingly one hand. Then his eyes focused and he was able to see who the form was.

"Is that?" Wavedancer asked.

"I thought he was LEADING the bad guys?" Avalanche said as he ran over and pulled both Sonic and Cyclops away from the area CyberSonic was trying to turn into a crater.

The floating form spoke. "The multi-verse is avast place kiddos. I've come in the crazy flavor before, I've been good, bad and the end of a universe or two. I've seen worlds crumble and gods bend knee to men. I've fought side by side with the hottest blooded warriors and philosophized with he greatest minds ever. Still the greatest piece of advice I've ever heard came from the real blue hedgehog down there."

"Y-y-you're... holding me still." CyberSonic squeaked out.

"Ok, second best. The first comes from a ninety pound girl. It goes something like this: I can kill you with my brain." The form gave a wicked smile. "But today, is the day of the hyper-hog." The form threw down 8 glowing gems that slowly circled Sonic, one gem far larger than the rest centered above him, the other smaller ones pulled the Chaos emeralds from the unconscious Sonic's body.

"Stop them!" Wavedancer shouted as she started to run forward before she too froze and from he position saw that even the heartless were frozen in place.

The larger gems then began to glow with the power of the Chaos emeralds, only now everyone could feel the energy. It made the hairs on their necks stand and scream in awe. The gems then lifted the unconscious hedgehog up into the air, spinning in various directions as they did so, until finally nothing but light enveloped the blue hedgehog. Then the light faded and Sonic was back, only know he was flashing the colors of the rainbow so fast and so brightly he almost looked like he was glowing white.

"Have fun." The form smiled as it released CyberSonic.

The robot drew back a few feet as it made contact with Sonic's eyes.

The next thing anyone knew, was the CyberSonic was flying higher into the air and this new form of Sonic was already at the destination ready to smack the robot around some more. Then the form descended and the Misfits, X-Men and even a few humans took up arms. Before them was Release.

"Yeah, I kinda figured it'd be a tough sell." The strange Release said.

"Who the hell are you, because you're obviously not Release." Wavedancer held back her arm, her new materia glowing brightly.

"Oh, I'm Release. I just happen to be the original one. Not an incidental copy like the one you're dealing with." Release smiled as he flipped his black sunglasses down to reveal his violet glowing eyes. "By the way, the guy who sent me here, says 'I'm not touching you.' What the hell does that mean?"

"Who told you to say that?" Cyclops asked, his hand on his visor.

"Some weirdo with glowing green eyes. Called himself a Scion, not sure what he inherited, but he seemed kinda cool, bit idiotic though, but cool." The new Release smiled. "By the way; duck." Everyone looked up to see Sonic careening towards them while holding CyberSonic in his outstretched hands."

"The city!" Cyclops shouted as he ran past Release.

"Oh please, give me a challenge." Release feigned a yawn and held up his hand a flash of violet energy came and soon Sonic slammed CyberSonic into the field just before the city.

Light and energy rolled over the city and poured over the edges of the field. Wavedancer looked to the powerful esper and saw the eyes of the man glowing with intensity as he folded the field back in on itself and began to shrink it. She continued to look on as his tear ducts swelled forth the smallest amounts of blood.

"That's not good." Wavedancer started to rush towards him.

"NO!" The esper pushed her back with ease even as she saw him struggle to contain the energy. "Get everyone back!"

Cyclops looked at him in confusion, then clarity. "He can't hold it." He gasped under his breath before hitting his communicator. "JEAN GET HERE NOW!"

"Cyclops, the restaurant has a basement." Wavedancer shouted as the energy field dropped. The explosion had been contained, but now a swirling purple energy came up around Release. "Oh crap, that's not good."

"Comin' through!" Sonic blew past Cyclops and had grabbed Release before anyone knew what was happening. Seconds later a bright purple light flashed in the sky beofre Sonic was once again on the ground, still glowing with a dizzy looking Release.

"Thanks hog-man." Release said with a cough as he steadied himself.

"The hell was that?" Iceman shouted.

"A release of built up psionic energy, hence the nickname..." Release coughed before a chunk of rock came soaring at him. The rock fell flat. "Jesus, how damn predictable do you have to be girl?"

"You won't hurt anyone here!" Jean Grey practically roared.

"No, no I won't." Release sighed. "Anyone..."

"It's all right Jean!" Cyclops shouted, "He's not the same Release..."

"What?!" Jean tried to psychokinetically pull at the esper, but he never moved.

"Nice try Red, but I've got a tad more experience than you do." Release said with a smirk.

"She has the Phoenix Force!" Cyclops found himself yelping.

"And in my youth that would have been a huge power boost, but I'm a bit older than I look and now it'd be training wheels on a Harley." Release said. "Look, I'll make it simple, I'm here for one purpose, wipe out these things..." Release nodded to the still frozen heartless that exploded violently, "...and hunt down the other version of me."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Avalanche said as he looked in awe.

"Keep fighting these things, and what ever Nega-me sends after you." Release shrugged. "Honestly I'll be to busy hunting to likely fight ALL the occurrences of these things, so you guys still have a lot to do. I just took a huge weight off you is all."

"How are we gonna tell you two apart?" Blob asked.

"I'll be the one not killing you." release said with a slow nod. "Also I highly doubt he looks human anymore. We don here? Yes? No? Cool." He started to walk away.

"Wait! What are you getting out of this?" Jean asked, a look of anger still in her eyes.

"This Scion friend of yours did me a very big solid." He turned back to the group. "Right now I'm paying back a debt, don't worry though..." He started walking again, waving as he went. "I'm already starting to like this place. Oh..." He stopped. "...Red. Make sure your friends here tell you what's going on. I hate when we have to fight, it's never fun."

* * *

**AN: It may seem like a cop out but I found I needed the REAL Release here to counter the evil one I put in.**


	4. Hero

**inVASION: Heartless & Nobody – Bane of Existence**

**By THE Xenomorph (aka Xenomorph666)**

**Disclaimer: I own only Perfection and Wraith.**

**DigitalMan and K2** **are © My close friend.**

**Everything else is copyrighted to their correct owner.**

**Universe: Spliced-Verse (Misfit-Verse, Evil Dead, The Mask, TMNT, Captain Planet, Beast Wars, Jurassic** **Park)**

_**Hero**_

"So there's two Releases' now?" Todd blinked in confusion. The Misfits and X-Men were gathered in the back yard of the school with several pit fires and marshmallows to boot.

"Yup." Freddy said.

"Friggin' weird, yo." Todd yawned.

"Consider all we've seen Todd." Pietro chuckled. "And that's what you call weird?"

"Yeah..." Todd stopped talking as Jean came over to their pit. "'Sup Red?"

"Pietro, Wanda..." Jean was pale. "Genosha was attacked."

There was a brief silence.

"Kurt's trying to get some of the X-Men together to bring some help, we were wondering if you'd want to go." Jean sat down. "It's pretty bad, some dark portal thing opened up in the center of the island."

"I'll go." Pietro said with a heavy sigh. "No point in both of us being miserable."

"No, we both need to go." Wanda winced inwardly. "We can't let his mania keep coming back on us."

"Yeah."

Silence stood present for a bit longer.

"SO! Jean, how you handling the world's newest esper?" Althea asked, breaking the silence.

"I think a certain Scion is gonna get a pie or two to the face when we're done with this." Jean sighed with a small smile. "I can't believe he just vaporized those heartless though."

"While suffering from some unknown energy backlash AND holding a catastrophic explosion at bay." Wanda pointed out. "We better hope my idiot boyfriend knows what he doing."

"Well if that's caveat for winning we're all doomed." Jean smiled.

"Ouch..." The floating form of the true Release came into view through the darkness. "You know I spent a full day searching for Nega-me and all I found were a few holes crawling with those black heartless thingies. So I thought to myself, where would I be if I were an evil me who absorbed to much power..."

"This oughta be good." Todd snickered.

"Not really." Release hovered down to the pit and held a marshmallow over the fire. "If I were him and I kinda am, I'd be sitting back on a throne of Evil commanding an army to do my bidding."

"So how many times have you done that one?" Althea asked.

"Once or twice, it's surprisingly boring." The esper yawned. A glance passed between the teens.

"You know I think you're even cockier than ours." Pietro chuckled.

"I've had a long time to learn about life and shit." He smirked. "Which leads me to my point and my arrival."

"Gonna wait till he comes for us, huh?" Althea asked.

"Pretty much." Release smiled as he blew out his marshmallow. "And until then, I'll be hanging around Red here like mad."

"Why?" Jean snapped her head up in a mix of anger and even more anger.

"Nega-me wants what you have, ergo you are target priority number uno." Release explained. "I suspect he's gonna hold a grudge for you still having the Phoenix Force and I plan to take advantage of that." He smiled. "Plus, it'll drive you're boyfriend loopy and I can't pass up driving Summer insane."

"Oh god you're a Misfit." Jean sighed.

"I prefer socially challenged." Release smiled.

"She means you're one of us." Althea said and for a moment Althea locked eyes with him again.

"Huh..." The esper briefly shrugged backwards. "You know I've been in countless realities with the X-Men, the Avengers and pretty much everyone in this world. I've meet all the people there are to meet, or so I thought. I'm Alan Quain, some call me Release, and you are?"

"Althea Delgado, codename: Wavedancer and leader of the Misfits." Althea said with a nervous nod.

"Well it seems Ms Delgado I have met a new person, for the first time in forever." Release smiled.

"So you're immortal?" Todd asked, a few of the Misfits nearly choked, Jean and Althea merely placed their face in their palms.

"For a given value." Release sighed. "Exceptionally long story short; in my world I wasn't the nicest guy around, but I did what I had to to get my brother through school. Larceny, kidnapping, robbery all the fun stuff. He got to grow up going to the best schools, getting adopted and even becoming a member of a professional hero group."

"Stephen." Jean realized.

"Yeah, God do I miss him." Release sighed as he tugged at a chain hidden under his shirt. "I got to see the finest prisons, and psionic holding facilities my world had to see, but it was worth it for so I never really cared. Villains in my world never seemed to grasp that about me, always wanted my to help rule the world, bunch of idiots." He put another marshmallow over the fire. "Met a nice half-demon girl somewhere along the way, we had some fun tearing up the town now and then. Usually got away 'cuz Stephen and I refused to fight each other; life went on like that for a while, me and her having fun and my brother and the heroes stopping it."

"Here comes the end of that." Todd sighed.

"Good call. Woke up one day to a really happy girlfriend and a bunch of heroes asking for my help. Evil cult had taken my brother to some statue in the city they used as an altar. We got there just as the beast was emerging to take him and devour him." The marshmallow had burned to a crisp. "Fuck..." He put another one over the fire.

"I'm gonna guess he didn't make it." Althea assumed.

"Heh, made an ass of yourself Ms Delgado. No, Stephen made it, if only cause I used the full end of my power and made that freak bleed." Release only half-smiled.

"Nice!" Althea and Todd said in unison.

"This is the 'but' moment..." Release continued as their faces fell. "I punched a muiti-versal parasite in the face and made it bleed. It didn't like that."

"Wait, multi-versal." Wanda stopped the reminiscing. "Why does it still exist?"

"It's a natural part of existence. Reality is as alive as you and I, makes sense it'd have parasites and illnesses, yeah?"

"Like the heartless and nobodies." Freddy said with a dawning realization. "It's why the can't interfere."

"Bingo! So what's a multi-versal, too damn powerful entity to do when a mortal creature makes it bleed?" Release asked.

"Kill it." Jean suggested.

"Runs the risk of more bleeding that way. No, this nasty son of a bitch pulled me through the rift and just keeps me going every time I die in a world." Release pulled the Marshmallow back from the fire. "It keeps trying to break me, almost did."

"What stopped you from breaking?" Jean asked, now fully into hearing the story.

"'Nother time for that one. Not one of my best moments, cost me a lot in the end." Release sighed. "Still had to more to learn, even after that."

"Psionic?" Althea asked.

"General term for psychics from my world. To many power sources to really label them by that." Release yawned, "Why, what'd you use here?"

"You'd be an esper." Althea explained. "Jean is just a mutant."

"Meh, it works." Release leaned back before jumping to his feet. "You all feel that?" He looked at their blank faces. "Of course you didn't."

"That is a powerful mind." Jean said as she stood up. "Why didn't I feel that before?"

"You've met him?" Release asked. Pietro looked to Wanda, who shrugged.

"No I only heard about their arrival and then they left, saying they'd be back." Jean said, a look of obvious awe covered her face.

"You didn't feel it before 'cause he blocked you out. Right now he's letting all psychics in. Keeping them calm." Release smiled.

"Uh, for the non-psychic among us. Who the heck are you two talkin' about, yo?" Todd asked.

"Lesson number 1..." Release smiled. "'Even with all your power you're still just an angry twenty-something who's lost. Let me help you.'' The first time I ever let someone actually help me, because I couldn't see an ounce of deception in his mind."

"It's kinda... beautiful." Jean smiled. "He's coming."

"Who's coming?!" Wanda jumped up with the rest of the group and then looked up to see a cape and form descending in the moonlight.

"Superman." Release smiled.

"I didn't think they'd ever get you..." Superman stared at Release in awe.

"Life's full of surprises boy scout."

"I'm missing something, no a lot of somethings here..." Todd said.

"They know each other." Althea sighed.

"This is the same Superman that taught me what a hero is." Release smiled.

"He showed you what helping people really was." Jean looked to the ground as she seemed lost in thought. The straight to Release a look of shock and confusion in her face. "You sacrificed yourself to save their world, so he wouldn't have to."

"Didn't belong there anyway." A weak smirk crossed Release's face as he walked off into the mansion.

Silence took the yard for a long while as more of the students noticed the flying superhero though the silence vanished. The teenagers and adult all alike scrambled to talk to him, but in the end it was Jean who escorted him to a guest room.

"You should tell him." Jean said. "And thank you for showing me that, I wasn't sure if Release, even this one was ever capable of doing good."

"He was angry and lost when I met him, just on the verge of breaking just after five of those curse transitions and he was ready to shatter. I did the best I could with the league, it seems to have given him some strength." Superman smiled. "He's always been capable of good though, everyone is, the key is to not give up on them."

"What about our Release?" Jean asked.

"If he still has a human heart, he can still be reached." Superman said.

"But will this Release try that?" Jean asked.

A pause took the air. "I honestly don't know. I'd hope so though, he looks far more confident and powerful than when I first met him." He looked down the hall in time to see Release walking down the stairs with a wave.

"For everyone's sake, lets hope not." Jean sighed.

"What?" Superman asked.

"It's complicated, but if he doesn't kill our Release, a powerful cosmic force that lives inside of me, may try to take over and do it. I don't think I could take killing someone again... even if it's not "me" me doing it."

"I think I understand." Superman said. "Thanks for showing me to my room."

"Have a nice night Mr. Kent." Jean smiled and left.


	5. Slugging Past the Pain

**inVASION: Heartless & Nobody – Bane of Existence**

**By THE Xenomorph**

**Disclaimer: I own only Perfection, Wraith and Release (in both identities).**

**DigitalMan and K2** **are © My close friend.**

**Everything else is copyrighted to their correct owner.**

**Universe: Spliced-Verse (Misfit-Verse, Evil Dead, The Mask, TMNT, Captain Planet, Beast Wars, Jurassic** **Park)**

_**Slugging Past the Pain**_

Leonardo swung his blade and it passed through air, but in his mind it was a monster. His second blade lashed out and the process repeated. Over and over he drilled himself into the perfect motions. The only sounds, those of the sewers below him and the blades' near silent movements. Then he stiffened, something was about and he sensed it. With a sudden and deliberate movement he plunged his hand into the water and pulled a smiling Raphael out.

"What are you doing?" Leonardo asked.

"Keepin' you sharp, Leo!" Raphael smiled as he held out his hand for his brother. Leonardo of course went to pull him up, only to be yanked in himself. "Can't have our leader goin' down in the middle of a fight. That'd just be insultin'."

Leonardo rolled his eyes as he surfaced. "We can't have that now can we?"

"Seriously, Leo. You tell us not to go anywhere alone and I have to track you down?" Raphael said as he pulled himself out of the water.

"I needed to think." Leonardo scoffed as he joined Raph out of the water.

"I know that feeling. It's gotten me my ass handed to me what, three or four times now?" Raphael laughed. "If I learned from it, you should too."

Leonardo paused. "Sorry Raph..."

"Don't apologize, it's a sign a' weakness." Raph smirked. "'Sides who am I gonna argue wit' if you bite it?"

"Come on Raph..." Leo sniffed. "We stink."

"You stink, I gotta healthy layer of scent." Raph said with a barking laugh. The two brothers then made their way back to their lair.

333333inter333333LOAFERs333333inter333333LOAFERs33 3333inter333333LOAFERs333333

"This is gonna suck!" Michelangelo shouted as he slid down a tube straight into a pool of odd gunk.

"Maybe Mikey, but think of it this way, you're testing our friend's future arrivals." Donatello smiled almost evily.

"Ugh..." Mikey climbed out of the pool and shook off the gunk "Some how I don't think anyone short of Toad'll be appreciative of this stuff."

"Yo, Donny! Mikey!" Raphael called as he and Leonardo entered the lair, then he and Leo came upon the sight.

"Don't even ask bro." Mikey sighed. "Now I gotta shower... again!"

"Again?" Leo asked.

"First test kind of exploded." Donny explained. "And hardened..."

"Donny." Raph walked over to his genius brother. "Doors. They're wonderful and you can lock'em."

"Oh god, you smell like turds!" Donny coughed.

"You all smell like turds." Gecko said as he held his nose while passing through.

"We live in a sewer dude!" Mikey laughed.

"Which is why I shower at least twice a day." Gecko countered.

"Ya mean when you're actually here." Raph smirked.

"Hey, I can't help it Xavier lets me stay the night and practice with them. Well maybe I can but I like it." Gecko smirked.

"Yeah, yeah. You goin'?" Raph asked.

"Not just yet, gotta talk with Splinter then I'm gonna do aptrol route with the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." Gecko rolled his eyes.

"Figured you'd like him." Raph chuckled.

"Hate you so much..." Gecko groaned as he walked towards Splinter's room. He heard Mikey and Raphael tackle Donny a second later.

"Come in my son." Gecko's guardian and mentor spoke. Normally his mediation times were in silent darkness, but lately the ninja master had taken to lighting the room with bright candles, in part due to his own fear of the Heartless sneaking up on him once more, Gecko shared the sentiment.

"Master Splinter." Gecko came in and bowed. "I was going to head out on patrol with Spider-Man. I was wondering if there was anything you needed?"

"No my son, I am content." Splinter smiled.

Gecko bowed and left.

333333inter333333LOAFERs333333inter333333LOAFERs33 3333inter333333LOAFERs333333

"Come on slow-poke!" Spider-Man shouted as he and Gecko ran along the rooftops of New York. Well Gecko ran, Spider-Man merely swung from one spot to another. "You know the other four are bit faster."

"The other four don't wear armor and carry a sword and shield!" Gecko spat out as he huffed his way up a ladder. "Even with my enhanced strength and stuff I gotta train to get myself to the condition where I CAN leap from top to top."

"All right, fair enough." Spider-Man hung upside down as the young mutate caught his breath. Moments later and alarm went off below them.

"Looks like stopping was a good idea anyway." Gecko said as he ran to the edge of the building and began to crawl down. Spider-Man was next to him almost instantly. They looked inside the shop to see tons of heartless pouring out of a vase.

"Well that's not good." Spider-Man quiped.

"INCURSION!" Gecko shouted into his communicator. "My signal, I only got Spider-Man with me and they are POURING out!"

"On our way Gecko!" Donny's voice responded followed by Jean Grey's. "X-Men en route!"

"Keep'em busy!" Gecko shouted as he unsheathed his sword and jumped to the ground while readying his shield and then plowing straight into the building's window.

"No problem!" Spider-Man said with hint of Glee as he shot several webs into the building, confining small hordes of the monsters to the wall.

Gecko began tearing into the monsters, his sword igniting and purging their twisted likenesses to nothing. Soon he could feel and hear Spider-Man fighting along side him, quipping and punching the small creatures away as Gecko tried to push on to the vase.

"To many of them Gecko!" Spider-Man shouted, "We need to fall back!"

Gecko looked around to a wall of black claws scratching at him. "Go!" He shouted and Spider-Man zipped them both out onto the street just as two manholes blew off and let the turtles onto the street.

"Dudes, we got some butt to kick!" Mikey shouted as he tossed several shuriken at the heartless and dropped them into smoke.

"As one." Leonardo said and the turtles dropped their own smoke grenades.

"The hell?" Spider-Man asked. They get here and run?"

"They're ninja." Gecko smiled as he readied himself for the oncoming horde that seemed to hold just inside the store front. Then all at once; violence, as heartless flew with a look of sudden surprise on their faces. Several shouts from within the store pushed the monsters forward.

"Rally ho." Gecko smiled as he charged forward to meet them only to see his brothers run out of the store with a look of panic. Then the vase that held them flew out followed by a huge apelike monster heartless that was headed right for Gecko. "How do I get into th..." Gecko tried to shout but he was suddenly tanked vertically as Spider-Man used the momentum to slam himself into the beast.

To Spider-Man and everyone's surprise the beast barely flinched and took an immediate dislike to Spider-Man. It raised it's paw to reveal claws that gleamed with evil. The world moved in slow motion then as Leonardo charged in and tossed the mutate hero to the side, taking the blow intended for him.

"LEO!" Raphael shouted as rage began to cloud his eyes. "I'll kill you, ya monster!" He rushed forward only to be back handed and sent sailing into the side of a car. "My friggin' eye!" He shrieked in pain.

"Leave them alone." A voice called from above them. It was Jean radiating the fire of the Phoenix Force.

"Jean, we can't get Leo!" Donny shouted as he pointed to the unconscious and bleeding form, then he noticed two more forms next to Jean. One resembling their main enemy Release and the other being Superman.

"Red, you want big and ugly or to help your friend?" The strange new man asked.

"I'll help them." Jean seemed to just barely contain her rage.

"Right, work time." The unknown man flipped off a pair of sunglasses to reveal his glowing violet eyes. Then with a crack of his neck he nodded to Superman, "Mind taking care of Popeye down there?" Then he plowed straight into the monster, sending it sailing back into and through the building.

"Yes!" Spider-Man shouted as he noticed who had joined them. "Superman and... glowing eye guy?"

"You would be Spider-Man, yes?" Superman asked as he casually punched a piece of debris that the monster had tossed past the glowing eyed stranger.

"HEY! AIM AT ME YOU UGLY MONKEY!" The stranger shouted in anger, due in part to being ignored and in part to having a friend be under attack.

"Yeah, is that who I think it is?" Spider-Man asked.

"Yes, but he's the original Release." Superman smiled. "Let's help your friend now, ok?"

"Good call..." spider-Man said as he lifted Raphael up and saw the gaping wound left in his skull by the impact with the car. "Whoa..."

"He's bleeding out." Superman said, hearing the turtle's heart rate drop. "I can save him, but he'll loose the eye."

"Leo..." Raphael managed to stir enough to get the word out of his broken form. "Leo..."

"Jean's handling him." Superman said. "Now brace yourself this is going to hurt..."

Jean on the other hand was trying in vain to stop Leo's massive blood loss.

"I can't stop it..." Jean said with fear crawling into her voice.

"Jean, we can loose alot of blood and still keep going, remember we heal very fast, but we need to STOP the loss." Donatello said as he pressed several shirts against Leo's wounds. "You need to cauterize slashes."

"What?!" Jean almost shrieked. "What if I..."

"Jean, do it!" Gecko shouted as he struggled to free himself from Spider-Man's rescue webbing which had now thoroughly secured him against a building's wall that Mikey was trying to get him off of. "You're the one who can."

Jean looked to see Raphael barely holding up with Spider-Man's help and the closeness of Superman to his face. "This will hurt, a lot."

The screams came in the night in a horrid unison as the smell of burnt flesh caused two on the scene to vomit. The sounds of the scream drew the attention of the heartless beast from it's fight with Release and back to its potential victims.

"I hate being ignored..." Release said as he slammed into the creature only to be batted into a building. "Oww..." He groaned as the force of the impact caused him to blackout.

"Release is out!" Jean shouted as her energy aura flared up and she dashed to him.

"Looks like I'm up." Superman said as he left Raphael in Spider-Man's arms and flew to the beast.

The beast blinked as Superman flew into his vision. It stared almost cross-eyed as it tried to figure out what to make of the strange thing that blocked it's path. It would normally have continued on, but the brightness of the being's heart seemed to good to be true. It reached forward with it's claws only to have them moved aside as if they were a feather, by the odd being.

"Normally I'd go into a speech about how I normally hold back." Superman said. "But we both know you wouldn't even understand it." A sudden uppercut from nowhere sent the beast sailing into the sky where Superman met it and continued to keep it in the air with a series of punches, kicks and elbow strikes until it seemingly vanished into nothingness.

"Dude.." Mikey gawked as Superman came to the ground and the sun started to rise.

"Jean, why don't we help these guys back home?" Superman asked as the last of the heartless vanished in a purging flame from the barely in control Jean.

"Release needs help." Jean said flatly, in almost alien tone.

"Jean!" Superman shouted. "You're stronger than that thing."

A silent moment passed and Jean's aura calmed.

"Told ya he was good." Release croaked while still remaining mostly motionless on the ground. "And I'm fine. I can, believe it or not, fix my broken teeth. Comes in very handy."

"Want me to take the limp biscuit back to Xavier's?" Spider-Man asked as he handed Raphael to Superman.

"Did you just call me what I think you did?" Release asked with a half threatening tone.

"Don't rile him too much, he gets cranky when fixing his spine." Superman chuckled.

"The esper is not liking what he is hearing." Release shouted. "Might want to get those two back fast, they're gonna need the rest."

"Thanks." Donatello wiped a tear as Leonardo began to stir.

"Why does it feel like someone toasted my insides..." Leo groaned.

"I had to stop the bleeding." Jean winced as she levitated him.

"Spider-Man?" Leo asked.

"He's fine, but Raphael is seriously hurt." Jean said. "We're taking you home."

"Raph..." Leo turned to see his brother's scarred face and inwardly swore he would never let such harm come to his brothers again, but now he needed rest.


	6. A scale of what's to come

**inVASION: Heartless & Nobody – Bane of Existence**

**By THE Xenomorph (aka Xenomorph666)**

**Disclaimer: I own only Perfection, Wraith and Release (in both identities).**

**DigitalMan and K2** **are © My close friend.**

**Everything else is copyrighted to their correct owner.**

**Universe: Spliced-Verse (Misfit-Verse, Evil Dead, The Mask, TMNT, Captain Planet, Beast Wars, Jurassic** **Park)**

_**A scale of what's to come**_

"I don't know how, but he'll be fine." Hank McCoy stood over the sleeping form of the new Release.

"That's good." Xavier sighed. "I thought he broke his spine though."

"Apparently he's advanced his psychokinetic powers to the point where he can mimic other specific kinetic abilities." Hank explained. "His mind is literally fixing the damage on a cellular level, possibly even on a level below that."

"Amazing." Xavier noted. "But now comes a bigger issue, since he's going to be fine and we already have a Release in our world..."

"I have a strange feeling ours is not going to be going by that from now on." Hank said flatly. "If their minds work in a similar manner, I'd expect our Release to have 'risen above' that name."

"Let's hope you're right. I'd hate for this to get any more confusing than is already possible." Xavier sighed as he and Hank left the infirmary. As they made their way to the elevator it opened and a very angry looking Rina slammed a very sore looking Sam Guthrie into the wall.

"Easy Rina, I didn't mean it like that!" Sam shouted her response was a growl and to unsheathe her claws.

"RINA, SAM!" Xavier shouted. "What is the meaning of this?"

The teens turned to look at Xavier and Rina seemed to come to attention and looked down to Sam before helping him up. "Nothing, just a misunderstanding." She stormed off without a further word towards the danger room.

"Sorry about that Prof." Sam said. "Guess I made a joke when I shouldn't have."

"Regarding?" Xavier inquired.

"Raphael..." Same blushed. "I was just tryin' to lighten the mood is all."

Xavier sighed as he rubbed his temples. "You weren't aware she was listening I take it."

"Kinda." Sam rubbed the back of his neck worryingly. "I hope she'll calm down enough to accept my apology after she's done destroyin' the Danger Room."

"Hopefully." Xavier agreed. "For now please avoid her and try not to make jokes about injured friends."

"Yeah no problem Prof." Sam sighed as he went towards the infirmary with Hank.

Xavier however returned to his office where a very unhappy General Hawk was waiting for him. "Already two casualties."

"They're fast healers, Hawk." Xavier said.

"It's still two down and we don't know how many of Magneto's Acolyte's survived their incursion or how many civilians." Hawk grimaced. "We've got one of the greatest Superheros bar none with us and I still can't shake this feeling of dread."

Xavier pulled out a bottle of scotch and two glasses. He had started keeping them around ever since the Misfits first started, but for a very different reason. Now it was the bonding agent of two mentors. He poured Hawk a glass. "How are they taking it?"

"Better than Rina is I bet." Hawk smiled. "Saw her get into the elevator with Guthrie."

"Yes, lets just be grateful she's learned to control herself far better than she used to." Xavier sipped his scotch. "As for Magneto, I suspect he's begun to see the light."

"I heard, you're sending students to help." Hawk smiled. "He'd never refuse their help though, still mutants after all."

Xavier handed Hawk a newspaper with a smile. The cover story was a simple bold headline 'Allied Support welcomed on Genosha!' Hawk stared at it, but smiled when he saw the begrudging look on Magneto's face as he greeted the soldiers and medics.

"Hah! That's the look I've been waitin' to see on Bucket-Head's face." Hawk grinned. "All it took was a catastrophe." He put the paper down and picked up his glass. "Leaves a bitter taste." He downed the glass in one shot.

"Lessons of such import are hardly learned with ease." Xavier sighed.

"No, Charles, they are not." Magneto's voice came from the door as it opened.

"That's fast." Hawk blinked.

"The picture was from three days ago." Magneto said with obvious disgust. "Genosha is being secured, but Ive heard disturbing rumors Charles, that you're housing our enemy."

"In a sense." Xavier said.

"Please explain that one." Magneto glared at his old friend.

"Our Release, is what the one we're housing refereed to as an 'incidental copy'." Xavier said. "He wasn't able to explain it all that well, but from what I've gathered the nature of a powerful curse placed on him has left various copies of himself n other realities. Each as powerful as he was at the time."

"So he's a dimension traveler." Magneto lessened his glare. "And he happened upon this world?"

"Direct interference from the Scions actually. He fell into a gray area they were able to exploit." Xavier explained further. "Apparently not for long though."

"And I've heard of the turtles, I would send their master my condolences, but I suspect he would sooner attack me than hear me out." Magneto said as he took a seat. "Mastermind and Cortez are half-dead, somehow Sabertooth is in such condition he's barely holding on and for some reason Polaris has run off."

"Not looking good for Genosha." Hawk sighed. "And your Decepti-friend's can't help I take it."

"That's just it. Their base is solidly frozen in a layer of energy." Magneto sighed. "Otherwise we would have lost a lot less. To many civilians. To many lives."

"I'm not even gonna ask." Hawk nodded and Xavier poured a third glass. The trio silently downed a glass each.

"General Hawk, a request." Magneto said.

"Should I not come out of this war, I would appreciate it if you stood up for Genosha's sovereignty." Magneto said flatly. "I've left a detailed list of succession and guidelines for determining a leader."

"Huh..." Hawk sighed. "Never even dreamed of hearing you ask something like that. But the JOEs will stand for Genoshas' right to freedom."

"We might all want to consider as Erik has done." Xavier said. "Who will lead in our potential absence."

"I've got rank and file for that." Hawk said with an obvious fake smile. "But yeah, everyone should start considering that."

"That leaves me with a very difficult choice." Xavier sighed.

"Scott and Logan will butt heads over it." Hawk said as he was poured another glass.

"They're both unfit to lead currently." Magneto said. "One is almost a wild animal at times and the other is to rigid to adapt properly."

"I wasn't even really thinking of them." Xavier blinked.

"Who were you thinking?" Hawk asked.

"Honestly. Storm or Hank, either one would make an excellent headmaster." Xavier said.

"Right, school before combat." Hawk chuckled.

Xavier smiled. "As foolish as it sounds, I trust my teams to work well in any situation, even one without a clear leader. And beyond that both Logan AND Scott have shown capable of taking the reigns of leadership and even cooperating when a situation is serious, despite their personality clashes."

Hawk's phone then rang. He answered quickly and Xavier and Magneto both quieted.

"Good news or bad?" Magneto asked.

"We found your daughter." Hawk said. "She's under Wanda's bed."

Magneto slunk in his chair. "I've done more harm than good for my children."

"No argument there." Hawk grunted.

"Please keep them safe." Magneto sat up again. "Genosha is to unsafe for her right now."

Hawk nodded with understanding, "Don't worry, we'll keep her like a she was one of ours."

"One of these days Erik, you will need to face them." Xavier said.

"Charles, I honestly don't believe I'm going to make it through this." Magneto slunk back once again, a look of defeat crossed his face.

"Then they've already beaten you?" Hawk snorted.

"You haven't seen what they do Hawk." Magneto's face, which normally held a glowers of contempt and anger for the human general was now just filed with pain and a look of fear Hawk had never seen on the man. "The raw destruction they are capable of. I've only seen it once before."

"Difference between now and the past Magneto. Now you can fight. Now you can save those lives." Hawks said with a smile. "Plus we got Superman here!"

"Excuse me?" Magneto sat up again. "From the comics."

"Yup. Beat one of the big ugly ones to a pulp." Hawk grinned. "We worry about the little ones, guys like Superman and Release will hit the big ones.. Hawk took one final swig of scotch. "Just watch Magneto, we work together and we'll get out of this with minimal loss."

"Humans have proven to be more capable than I thought." Magneto admitted. "Hopefully after this a new age can dawn, where mutants are not to be feared."

"I think that age is here." Hawk said. "First incursion was in an FoH-Quarrymen facility. X-Factor and gargoyles saved them and the on lookers sided with our guys when the idiots blamed and attacked them."

Magneto looked at his scotch and put it back on the table. "Charles, I would like your permission to meet this "new Release"."

Xavier merely nodded and moved towards the door.


End file.
